Ghosts
by Krios24
Summary: Two companions travel throughout the northeastern wastelands in search for adventure.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first ever story on the site and I'd appreciate if you could drop a review. I'm open to any criticism or suggestions, just let me know. **

Cold, wet, anxious, I stood on the precipice of human destruction, rifle in hand. A sea of rotting skyscrapers stretched onward into the void.

"Who . . . _what_ did this?" Alice muttered as she examined the labyrinth of skeletons that lay only feet from us. "My helmet's display is picking up a hundred potential bodies."

"Who knows?" I replied, slowly stepping through the horrific scene. "Come on, a storm's moving in and we've got to find a good shelter before it catches up with us."

"Yeah, definitely wouldn't wanna be stuck in that crap. The stuff'll melt clean through our suits." She quipped while staring up into an obsidian wall of clouds that lingered above.

The two of us moved at a brisk trot down the nightmarish streets of what once was a great city; we looked cautiously at every blown out window or melted car for danger. A thick layer of ash floated down from the clouds, mixing in with the sweat and grime of our radiation suits until we resembled nothing more than a light fog being swept along by a gust of wind.

"You think anyone made it out?" Alice's voice crackled in my helmet's earpiece.

"Out?" I asked

"You know, before the bombs fell."

". . . No, probably not." I sighed "They were built to ensure that."

A long moment of silence followed until we came across a small and relatively intact two-story house. I motioned towards it with my head and Alice readied her rifle; we crept up the front steps and approached a thick oak door.

"Think we should knock?" Alice smirked, "Maybe someone's home."

"I wouldn't doubt it; the place is in good shape, like someone's been taking care of it." I noted while scanning any neighboring windows. A pit grew in my stomach at the eeriness of the place. "Maybe we should reconsider."

"Oh don't be so paranoid. This is the best we'll find out here, and I don't wanna end up sleeping under a truck again." She grasped the doorknob, "Ah hell, it's stuck."

"Not stuck, locked." I whispered. "Turn around, slowly."

"Wha-" Alice turned towards me and saw what I was staring at. A woman clad in rags and leather-strap shoes stood frozen at the bottom of the concrete steps. Alice instinctively leveled her rifle at the stranger's chest.

"Who are you?" she demanded more than asked.

"Al, put the gun down, she's not dangerous."

"Says you. She managed to sneak up on us without so much as a blink from our radar." Alice kept her rifle trained on the woman.

I clicked a button on the side of my helmet, switching to my helmet's loudspeaker. "Ma'am, is this your house?" No response. "Ma'am . . . we're not going to hurt you. Is this where you live?"

"Live?" the woman whispered almost inaudibly.

"Yes, is this your home?"

"No. No more home, no more live. Only run." She rambled. "No name, no one, no house, no home, nothing, nothing, nothing." Her hands began twitching incessantly as she repeated the same word over and over again. "Nothing, nothing, nothing…"

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down. It's alright, you're safe now" I shouldered my rifle in an attempt to defuse the situation and motioned for Alice to do the same. A reached an arm out to take the woman's hand. "Let's go inside, it's dangerous out here."

"What the hell are you doing?" Alice spat.

I turned off the loudspeaker for a moment, "Just follow my lead and get that door open." I continued to motion for the woman to come with us inside. She remained motionless. "Won't you come in?" I asked again.

"No, can't stay, they find me, take me back, the ghosts, they find me and kill good man. Kill good girl to." The woman stuttered as she pointed at me and then Alice. "Can't stop, no rest."

"Who's chasing you?" I questioned, "Who are they?"

"Ghosts!" she was yelling now, "White face come and take me from good man! Take me way, into dark!" Her voice grew louder with every word.

"Shut her up or she'll wake up the whole damn city!" Alice interjected.

"Ma'am please calm down, we can protect you. Please be quiet." I tried to reassure her as I slowly walked down the front steps, my arm still outstretched. "Come with us and we can make the ghosts go away."

After a decade, the woman slowly raised her hand towards mine. She held it for a moment, and fell silent. I began to step towards the house, but the woman's ears perked up as if she could hear something in the distance. "They're here," She breathed, "White face here, no time, run!" She ripped her hand from mine and with incredible speed took off down the ashen road.

"What the hell?" Alice stared down the street.

"I can't even begin to guess." I replied. "Whatever it was that spooked her, I don't want to stick around to find out if it was her imagination or not. Let's get out of here."

"For once, I agree with you." Alice said nervously.

The two of us ventured on in complete silence, still trying to grasp what had happened. An hour passed before the silence was broken, and how I wish it hadn't been…

"Contact 300 meters northeast." Alice reported. "I count one dot on radar, not moving." Her breathing grew heavier.

"I see it. Relax; it's probably a dog or something. We'll wait here and see if it moves on." I murmured.

One hour passed, then two. The dot never moved an inch.

"Maybe we should go check it out." Alice suggested.

"Alright, but stay low." We slunk closer until we could make out what it was, but couldn't see a thing; nothing was there. We stood exactly where the radar reading was from. Nothing.

Slowly, Alice looked up, "It's her. My god it's her." Alice gasped. The woman from earlier now hung from a light post that loomed high over the street. "She's dead."

A bolt of paralyzing fear shot down my spine. "Alice, we need to leave. Now." I stared in horror at the pavement below the body. There was a circular area perfectly clean of any dirt or rubble. Alice looked down and her face turned pale. There on the ground, was a painting of a ghostly white face. At that moment, the one dot on our radar snapped out, and eight more went up behind us.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you guys enjoy! Please toss me a review and/or PM me any suggestions you might have in the future. I plan on keeping this going as long as I'm interested in it, which I really am at the moment.**

_**Chapter 2**_

Ringing. Nothing but mind-melting ringing permeated my conscience as Alice and I ran for our lives through the desolate cityscape. Alice fired over her shoulder as we ran, her bullets hitting nothing but air. We ducked into an alley in hopes of escaping whatever the hell was chasing us. Throwing our backs against each other's, we covered both openings of the alley. Our motion sensors were ultimately useless, picking up hundreds of readings moving every which way when we couldn't see anything but the stone and brick of buildings that towered over us. Fortunately enough, the ringing lessened and we could actually concentrate a little.

"What's our play?" Alice asked through panicked breaths.

"I don't know; stay here and try to wait it out I guess."

Nothing was happening, not a single thing moved other than us. After several long minutes, the ringing had completely ceased, and the radars only picked up our presence.

"I think it's over for now." I sighed. "You okay?"

"Besides needing a change of pants, I'm okay. You?"

"Same. Let's wait here for a little while longer, then we'll make a break for the suburbs. We're getting the hell out of this city."

"Agreed"

The two of us had only been able to relax for around twenty minutes before it started to rain. Being so deep into the city now, the storm blotted out any hint of natural light. The dead city moaned with each blast if wind. We moved from the alley into a neighboring building for shelter. A thick blanket of dust and filth covered every inch of the place, and the stagnant air tainted our lungs. Alice's chipper personality kicked in as we set up camp.

"Hey, I think I stayed in a hotel like this once, before the bombs."

"Yeah?" I questioned, "What was it like?"

"Well, the current decor pretty much describes the service quality back then." She chuckled, "The food was amazing though, they had row after of row of it."

"Oh God don't mention food right now." I laughed.

"Don't we have any? I thought we packed at least a day's worth." Alice inquired.

"We did, but I might have dropped it with my bag when we were running…" I unzipped my radiation suit and rooted through my jacket pockets "All I've got on me are two protein bars and a bottle of water.

"Damn, I'm all out." Alice admitted, "Oh don't give me that look. I got hungry on the walk here."

"We'll just have to ration it then. We'll eat a little in the morning, then I think we should go back and look for my bag."

"No freakin' way we're goin back there!" Alice snapped "we barely got out there the first time."

"Most of our ammo and all of our food was in that bag. Not to mention the map. We need to find it."

"Fine, but if I see any more Caspers, I'm high-tailing it out of there."

"Sounds good to me." I stood up and stretched, "You should try to get some sleep, I'll take first watch."

"With pleasure." And with that, she was out. I never understood how she could sleep so soundly regardless of where we were. I set up a rusty chair next to one of the front windows of the building and set my hunting rifle against the wall. I had a pistol strapped to my leg as well for emergencies. It wasn't in the best of condition, but it could get the job done.

I sat still for a long while observing the outside world. By and by a small rodent of some sort, no doubt mutated by the prolonged radiation exposure, would scurry across the street in a panicked frenzy as if the devil had its scent. I watched as massive bird-like creatures would glide low to the ground, patrolling for their next meal. One of them, to my surprise, landed feet from the window I was peering out of. It was perplexed my presence, and was most likely wondering what I tasted like. It tiptoed further with its beady eyes locked on mine. I very slowly moved for my rifle, but it caught the motion and quickly flew off out of instinct. It was an underdog, a scavenger, just trying to get by, same as us.

We had heard rumors of treasure troves of goods buried in the ruins of New York. With no paid work in sight and in desperate need for some quick cash, we set out for the Dead City. Alice and I had gotten ourselves into and out of some sketchy situations ever since we were kids, and thought we could handle ourselves.

After another hour or two on watch, Alice woke up and took over. I laid down and eventually fell into a light, dreamless sleep.

**There you have it! Not as much action in this chapter, but I thought I'd flesh ot the characters a bit more. Character development is a good thing! I hope to write at least a chapter each week, but my schedule changes regularly so I'll do what I can. Again, give it a review or PM me with any suggestions!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for the next chapter. My arch nemesis, Allergy Season, is back yet again and just got done serving me up a plethora of migraines. All is well though and I'm back among the living. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

_**Chapter 3**_

I woke with a start as Alice lightly kicked my shoulder.

"Rise and shine buttercup," she joked, "Time for another heroic adventure."

Wiping the crust from my eyes, I clumsily stood up and began gathering my gear. Glancing out the window, I noticed that the scenery hadn't changed at all. The city almost seemed stuck in place.

"What's the time?" I asked.

"Hell if I know, can't tell with all these clouds." Alice stuck her head out the window and peered upward. "But you've been out for a couple hours by my guess. You started to kinda stir around and make noises I your sleep, so I thought that it was as good a time as any to wake you up."

"Anything fun happen while I was asleep?"

"Nope, all quiet on center stage." She examined the road and surrounding windows, "No more ghosties either."

"Good. We should get going; hopefully the food bag is still out there." I yawned.

"And if not?" Alice questioned.

"You remember that little settlement we passed on the way here?" She nodded. "W'll stop there and restock. How many caps you got on you?"

Alice plucked out an old leather pouch from her backpack and gave it a good shake. "Around eighty, you?"

Reaching into my own backpack, I pulled out a hefty metal box and peeked inside. "Last time I counted I had like, one-thirty, or something around there. Looks like nothing fell out, so yeah, about one-thirty."

"That should set us up nicely for the trip home." Alice smiled.

"I'd much rather not spend it, if at all possible. C'mon, let's hope our bag wasn't snatched by some lucky wanderer." I stepped out the doorway onto the rubble of the open road. "Follow me; I'm pretty sure I remember where I dropped it."

We traced our steps back through the graveyard city for an hour or so until we came across a rather ominous-looking intersection. We sat down a couple dozen meters short of the crossroads for a drink.

"How much longer are we gonna keep this up?" Alice protested as she clicked off the head portion of her radiation suit.

I tossed her my water bottle and did the same, "It's only been an hour, you can't tell me you're worn out already."

"No way, it's got to have been more than that by now." Alice lazily kicked a pebble at her feet, "Damnit I hate this place; the whole 'no sun' thing is scrambling up my brain." She took a sip from the water and handed it back to me. I took a swig and then stashed it back in my coat.

"Don't worry, we'll search a little longer, then we'll get out of this place." I spat.

At that moment, we both heard something in the distance. The sound of panicked footsteps grew louder as a man bolted into the intersection, a large pack burdened him as he stumbled and fell. He must have broken something in the fall, because he gave out a blood-curdling yell once he hit the ground.

"Oh come on, what now?" Alice startled as I quickly put my helmet back on. I motioned for her to be silent and then held up two closed fists to my eyes; our sign to get the binoculars out. She crouched over behind me and snatched them from my bag. Peering into the lenses, she examined the scene.

"That's our bag," she whispered, "That guy's got our food."

"Lucky us. But what's he running from?" I wondered. "See if there's anything after him."

Alice studied the area for a few more seconds as the man stammered to his feet and tried to limp away. Suddenly, she dropped the binoculars back into my bag and snapped her helmet back into place. Without saying a word, she clamped onto my arm and nearly dragged me behind a car on the opposite side of the road.

"What the hell Al!" I gasped.

"Shut up," she whispered, pressing herself into the ground, "It'll hear you."

"What'll hear me?"

At that moment, the ground shuddered underneath us. Booming footsteps were nearing the intersection. I peeked from behind the car and noticed that the injured man was nowhere to be found, but I noticed a grey lump on the concrete; our food bag had been abandoned yet again. The ground shook ever fiercer with each step until the owner of the noise was in clear view. A massive, monstrous-looking creature stomped its way through the street. Its feet were the size of half a car, and the thing itself was no shorter that a two-story house, with muscles the size of train cars bulging across its body. Setting aside the obvious irregularities, the nightmare loosely resembled a human form, with two arms, two legs, a torso and a head; but that was the only recognizable feature about it. In its massive right hand, an enormous industrial pipe was gripped menacingly. On its left arm, various chunks of metal were seemingly infused into the beast's skin.

"Holy shit." I mouthed silently. Alice and I stared petrified at the demon that now towered over us. We stayed perfectly still for what seemed like an entire day as the mammoth sniffed the air and then continued on its death stroll through the city. Luckily, it went in the opposite direction of where we were headed.

Even after the beast had passed, Alice and I refused to move; unconvinced that it was truly gone.

Finally, Alice broke the silence.

"Was that. . . was that a . . . " she stuttered.

"Yeah," I slurred, "That was a Behemoth."

"But I thought they were only stories, that they weren't actually real." Alice replied.

"Well, I guess we know the truth now. C'mon, let's grab that bag and get the ever-living fuck out of here."

We crept up the street and snatched the food bag. Without even checking it for damage or looking around for the injured man, we bolted for the edge of the city. After a few minutes, we found ourselves clear of the metropolis ruins and its thick wall of clouds. We joyfully jogged our way around the jungle of an ancient suburbia. Originally, we had planned on scavenging the area on our way back, but after the day's events, neither of us wanted to take the risk.

**Aaaaaaand cut! Hahaha. Hope you guys liked this chapter; sorry for it so being short, but the only time I have to write is during study hall or in-between classes. I promise that they'll get longer once summer finally rolls around. Remember to leave a review and/or PM me with any suggestions on what to write about in the next chapter. I'm up for just about anything so let me know. Thanks again for checking this out, it really means a lot to me!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chapter's here! Thanks for reading guys, I really appreciate it!**

_Chapter 4_

Having finally reached a peaceful state of mind after the past days' events, Alice and I strolled comfortably along a dense tree line. A cool breeze whisked through the noontime air, trees swaying with it as we walked. The world around us seemed peaceful for the first time in years, and all was well. We had passed the trials of New York City, despite coming out empty handed, and were on our way home to a rather large settlement, known as "The Keep", on the southern border of New York and Virginia. We had set out for NYC about a week and a half ago, stayed 2 days, and turned tail home.

"Well that trip really paid out." Alice sighed, cutting through the serene silence.

"Least we're not dead." I chuckled, "Things could always be worse."

"Yeah, that's a plus." Alice spoke softly as she plucked an apple from a nearby branch. She took a bite and tossed it to me. "I wish we had horses or something, this whole walking thing got old a while ago."

I took a bite from the red fruit; it wasn't great, but definitely leaps and bounds tastier than the depressing protein bars and MRE's we'd been living off of. Handing the apple back to Alice, I tried remembering how long it had been since the last time we just sat back and took it easy. The two of us hadn't taken a simple day off in ages; we were always out doing some kind of job or scavenging. Life was hard in The Keep. Although commodities such as food and medical supplies were abundant, the money to afford it was not, and the only thing keeping us above the all-to-common beggars was the fact that we knew how to handle ourselves in the wastes.

Alice and I had grown up in The Keep as next-door neighbors. Well, we lived in tents, but they were grand mansions for all we cared. Best friends at an early age, we spent damn near every waking hour with each other exploring every nook and cranny of the settlement. Our adolescent imagination would go wild as we battled invisible flying lizards from the storybooks our parents read us, and chased down imaginary bandits who had dared cross us. Into our teenage years we became more outgoing, venturing out beyond the sentry borders and into the nearby woods; we would take our slingshots with in hopes of catching something for a meal. The two of us were the best of friends, and once we were old enough, decided to partner up and make a collective living for ourselves by taking a job with the Keep's, leaders, known as the Administration. We soon acquired the nickname "The Keep's Runners"; our job was to travel between the surrounding ally towns with supplies and information. It was good work, and paid decently enough for us to eventually buy a large enough tent for the two of us to share comfortably.

A "Runner" job would pop up every now and then, but recently they had ceased entirely. One of the Keep's long range scouts had discovered burning heaps of rubble at the sites of two friendly settlements; something had plowed through and destroyed them. After that, the Administration shut down all contact with the outside world and tripled its militia. Martial Law was soon enforced and nothing went unchecked or uncertified, and any lawbreakers were banished to the wastes never to be seen or heard from again. The Keep stood threateningly still, waiting for whatever had wiped out its neighbors to arrive at its doorstep. It was impossible for Alice and me to get any legal work that paid well enough to live on, so we turned to more questionable employers. Admittedly, we didn't enjoy the work, but desperation stops for no one.

And that's how we ended up in New York City. Desperation. None of our underground contacts had received any jobs for us in some time; the Administration had cracked down on their operation and arrested most of its leaders, so the rest were lying low for a while. I was forced into police duty while Alice harvested crops. Every day was miserable, and the two of us regularly found ourselves up late, speaking with those few who were still able to sneak out. They talked about their adventures and the great and terrible things they encountered. One man, a wanderer who jumped from town to town selling whatever he could find, claimed to have traveled all the way up to Washington D.C., the capitol of pre-nuke America. I reminisced on the conversation as Alice and I walked.

" It was a nasty trip," the aging man spoke in a hushed voice as the three of us huddled around a small fire several months ago. "I's wit a caravan of tweny or so guys and gals, only eight made it to Rivet City." The traveler's vernacular was spotty at best, and his lack of several teeth didn't help, but we were able to understand most of it.

"Where?" I asked.

"Rivet City. Jou ain't never heard of it?"

"No," I replied." All we've heard about is New York City and all the treasure there."

" Dat's odd, I begun to think ery'one herd o' Rivet City by now. Well, it's dis big ol' pre-war battleship dat got wrecked on one o' dem rivers in D.C. Yeah, bunch o' people got t'gether while back and startid livin' in it. Over de years it gets more pupular and net thing jou know it's damn near de largest, mos well-pretected city in de eastern wastes."

"Whoa, how do they keep it all from falling apart?" Alice stared, petrified with the thought of living on a decaying boat.

"Dey got a group of smart-like educated folks led by 'dis old-world injuneer. Dey scurried up any metal wort a damn from de D.C. ruins and patched her up."

"Amazing," I spoke up, "and it's protected and everything?"

"Sure as a virgin." The old man crudely replied.

"Huh…" Alice trailed off into deep thought, no doubt contemplating whether a trip there would be worth it.

"Well, how'd you get back?" I dug for more information.

"Gettin' back was de easy part. I knew a safe route tru de ruins and how to avoid does nasty mut'nts de got up der. Begger dan any o' de ones you gots 'round dees parts."

"Super mutants, we've heard about them plenty. A raiding party or two of them are seen moving through these parts from time to time. They never get close enough to call for serious concern, though. The trees around here help hide us from any onlookers."

"Yeah you folks got it gud her." The old man slurred as he took a swig from a small flask he had been holding.

I stood and stretched, "So it would seem. Well thanks for the story friend."

"Ma plesur pardner." He stood, shook my hand and gave Alice a polite nod. Then she and I trudged off to our tent and went to sleep.

Back in the present, Alice and I set up camp for the night inside an old gas station. Some sort of animal in the distance howled into the void of stars.


End file.
